At almost every supermarket tasting, the first wine you'll come across is a line-up of pinot grigios. Why? They tend to be the white wines with the least personality, and almost act as a palate cleanser before all the serious stuff.

Before you bombard me with emails telling me not to be so snotty and that pinot grigio is your favourite wine, I admit that can be a virtue. Sometimes all you want is something light, crisp and quaffable – the wine world's equivalent of a pils. But pinot grigio – or, rather, its alter ego pinot gris – is capable of much more than that. The only problem is, you never quite know how sweet it will be.

The clue is by and large in the name. If a producer calls a wine pinot grigio, he or she is generally flagging up the fact that it's made in the dry Italian style. A good example is the 2010 La Finca Pinot Grigio (£6.49, Marks & Spencer; 12.5% abv), from Argentina, which is as crisp and bright as a Granny Smith. Perfect for simply grilled seafood.

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If, however, said winemaker uses the name pinot gris, it's more likely to be made in the Alsace style, which is fuller and richer, with a slightly musky edge. (Think viognier.) New World, especially New Zealand, wine makers tend to be fans of this style. A luscious example is the 2010 Te Whare Ra Pinot Gris (£16.60, Swig; 13.5% abv), from Marlborough, though the whole range is delicious, actually. This has 7g of residual sugar, which makes it off-dry – no problem for Thai food, for which it is the perfect pairing, but it may jar with raw seafood such as oysters. (It's always worth trying to track down what the RS – the residual sugar left in a wine after fermentation – is on a pinot gris. Admittedly, that's hard to find out from a supermarket, but any decent wine merchant should know, or check out the producer's own website. More than 10g a litre and it's likely to taste sweet.)

Just to demolish my theory (or to prove that there are exceptions to every rule), there's a New Zealand producer called Brent Mariss who calls his wine The Ned Pinot Grigio (the 2010 costs £9.99 at Majestic and Waitrose; 13.5% abv, 5g RS) – even though it has that telltale musky, peary note. But it's attractively crisp, too, so it's a bit of a hybrid. Try it with subtly spiced seafood and salads. (See, I told you pinot grigio/gris was complicated…)